Boxtop Cutout
by entertainingpeeps
Summary: Poor Malcolm. I'm so horrible to him.
1.

Allrighty folks, this here's a story 'bout Malcolm Reed.  
  
It might start off a bit slow... but don't you worry- I've got plans. Big plans.

Plans involving our fav. Lieutenant becoming a bit... immature.

:D  
  
---  
  
Malcolm Reed leaned over his schematics of the weapons drive. Well, technically they weren't _his_ schematics, but they might as well be.  
  
Running a finger down the padd that contained all the Enterprise's weapon's drive information, he again ran into the same problem he'd been running into ever since his monthly overview two days ago.  
  
Blinking, he ran a hand over his tired eyes. He glanced up and saw that the mess hall had now emptied except for the forlorn Ensign playing with her food in a dark corner. Reed looked back down at the padd.  
  
A small hitch was all it was, really. He sighed. Of course, small hitches could always grow into a life or death situation; as he had learned so well on this star ship.  
  
It looked as if he would have to go down into the bowels of the jeffries tubes to fix this up.  
  
He gathered up all the padds he had spread out over the table and stood. Of course, he wouldn't be fixing _any_thing tonight. Sleep is what he needed. The Enterprise would just have to wait a little longer.  
  
Reed made his way towards the exit, looking at the Ensign, Hoshi Sato, on his way. She seemed depressed. He paused.  
  
Normally, he wouldn't really consider asking another crewmate about how they're feeling, but he wasn't feeling himself because of sleep deprivation, and Ms. Sato looked miserable. "Problem, Ensign?"  
  
The woman blinked, then looked up at him with surprise. "Oh. I'm just feeling a little blue."  
  
The Lieutenant waited for more. She said nothing, poking at her food again. Oh well. He started for the exit again. He'd tried. She probably just needed some space-  
  
"You see, the Captain yelled at me today." Hoshi said loudly, still staring at her food.  
  
Malcolm groaned inwardly; she actually wanted to talk.  
  
Turning around, he slowly sat down at the table across from her. Clearing his throat, he thought of what to say.   
  
"Oh?"  
  
"Yes." She suddenly threw down her fork, "Y'know, it's not my fault T'Pol doesn't understand jokes!"  
  
He leaned back in his chair nervously. "Uh…"  
  
"All I said was, "looks like the Captain is lost"!" Hoshi exploded. "Then _T'Pol-_" she said the Vulcan's name with much venom, "says, "Captain, Ensign Sato is under the impression you don't know what you're doing"!"  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Yeah." Hoshi slumped sadly, "Archer didn't like that."  
  
He frowned. The Captain was not an unreasonable man, surely he understood the Ensign was joking? "Uh, that doesn't seem like a viable reason to yell at you, though."  
  
Ensign Sato grabbed a lock of her hair and twisted it around her finger. "Well… he didn't really _yell_ at me, per say."  
  
Ah. Reed valiantly attempted not to grin. "Per say?"  
  
"Well, all right, maybe I exaggerated a little bit." Hoshi said exasperatedly, "But the gist of it is still the same!"  
  
Malcolm smirked, "What, exactly, did he say?"  
  
Hoshi pressed her lips together, twisting the fork in her food. Then she said bitterly, "Oh, he just… rebuked me in front of the rest of the crew there." Her eyes looked haunted at the memory, "It was mortifying."  
  
Malcolm ran a hand through his short hair; he didn't know Hoshi Sato very well, so he had to choose his words carefully. "You shouldn't let it get to you. Knowing the Captain, he's probably forgotten the whole incident by now."  
  
The Ensign managed a small smile, "Yeah, you're probably right." She sat taller and cleared her throat. "Sorry to bother you Lieutenant, I was just…"  
  
Reed stood up, gathering his padds again, "No problem." He looked down at her, and said sincerely, "Next time you shouldn't let it get to you."  
  
She laughed, "I'm just hoping there won't be a next time!"  
  
Malcolm smiled lightly, already walking towards the exit. "G'night Ensign."  
  
"Night Lieutenant." She called, "And thanks!"  
  
-----

Malcolm lifted his cup of coffee. Black coffee.  
  
He shouldn't of stayed up so late last night he thought bitterly, taking a sip of the bitter liquid, grimacing. Screw the damn schematics.   
  
He yawned.  
  
"Everything all right, Lieutenant?" Jonathan Archer asked from his seat at the Captain's chair.   
  
Reed started, quickly setting down his cup and pressing some buttons in front of him. He looked up. "Yes sir."  
  
"Good." Archer said, inspecting the viewing screen, "Wouldn't want you nodding off when we're about to make first contact."  
  
"First contact? But sir," Malcolm exclaimed, surprised, running his scans of the planet below them again, "there's no sign of any sentient species down there--"  
  
Archer chuckled, "Thought that would get your attention."  
  
Malcolm heard a lighter voice giggling, and after looking across the bridge, he saw Hoshi Sato was the culprit. Not even trying to hide the fact she was laughing at him!  
  
His ears burned brightly.  
  
The scans he had re-done blipped onto his screen. Strange.  
  
"Captain." he called, his fingers flying over the controls. "You might want to come see this."  
  
Archer was by his side as Reed pulled up the new information he'd found. "It looks like a small ship."  
  
Reed nodded, "Yes, it seems to be empty."  
  
"All righty. Looks like we have take a little trip." Archer said, rubbing his hands together, "Reed, you and Hoshi will accompany me down to the planet to check this out."  
  
"Yes sir." Malcolm said, still studying the small ship.  
  
----

Reed carefully stepped out onto the planet, holding his tricorder and phase pistol.  
  
Surveying the area, he saw a huge ocean to his left, and a grassy plain expanse to his right. No mountains to be seen. Or enemies for that matter.  
  
"All clear Captain--" He turned around and saw that Hoshi and Archer were already on the surface. He sighed, sometimes he wondered if Archer really understood what Reed's job was.  
  
"Chief of Security indeed." he muttered as the other two pulled ahead of him and wandered toward the ship they had come to see.  
  
Archer walked up to the ship's side, pressing his hand against a small square barely larger then his hand. The ship bleeped once in response, and the square turned red.  
  
"Looks fairly new." Reed commented about the machine. In fact, it looked like it had just been cleaned; shining brightly in the sun.  
  
"I wonder who left it here?" Hoshi said, her hands resting on her hips.  
  
Archer took his hand away from the square, "It doesn't seem to want to let me in."  
  
Malcolm flipped his pistol lightly. "Should we…?"  
  
Archer nodded.  
  
They both shot the door on full blast and after a little while a good-sized hole appeared.  
  
"I'll go first." Reed said, then, not waiting for an answer, he ducked his head and walked through the hole.  
  
It was dark in the ship, but he could see well enough. There were simply two seats seated at the front, and basic supplies strewn about the room.  
  
He heard Hoshi and Archer coming in behind him.  
  
"Rather disappointing." Malcolm said as he seated himself in one of the seats at the front.  
  
"What?" The Captain asked, looking at some sort of weapon he found.  
  
Reed tried to turn on the ship as he answered, "This mission. There's nothing here."  
  
Hoshi sat down next to him, watching as he worked, "Nothing's better then something bad, right?"  
  
"Of course." he answered, "But it's still boring."  
  
Archer set down the gun-shaped thing he'd been admiring, then picked up a palm-sized box. There were some alien inscriptions written on the top.  
  
"Hoshi. Can you read this?" he asked, holding out the box for her.  
  
She took it from him carefully, straining her eyes in the shadowy room. A second later, she laughed.  
  
"What? What does it say?"  
  
She handed the cube back to him, still grinning. "I'm pretty sure it says 'box'."  
  
He chuckled, " Original."  
  
"What's in it?"  
  
"Just what I was about to find out." Archer said, then slowly lifted open the lid.  
  
Inside, lay a dozen or so marble-sized spheres. He carefully lifted one, holding it between his finger and thumb. "It's like, water."  
  
Malcolm stopped his futile attempts to start up the ship, turning to look at the box.  
  
The globules did indeed look like water that had been molded into marble-shapes. "Do you mind if I have a look?" he asked.  
  
Archer handed him the box, still holding his one sphere. "Wonder what they're for."  
  
"Maybe they're some sort of food?" Hoshi offered helpfully as Reed picked one up himself.  
  
"Could be." Malcolm shrugged, "They can't have been very important, if they were just left behind in this ship."  
  
"True enough. Here." He reached over and placed the sphere back in the box. "Let's take them back to the ship. Run some tests."  
  
Malcolm followed suit, closing the box, "Yes sir."

----

"What is the point of making balls of water?" Malcolm asked Porthos later that night, who had wandered out of the Captain's quarters and found the Chief of Security on his way to his own quarters.  
  
He flipped the box upside-down, ignoring the crewmate he passed in the hall. "It's just a box…" He wished the Captain had allowed him to take that neat gun weapon he'd found. Now THAT would have been fun to study. Much better then any 'water' thingies. The gun looked as if it might have an inner polarized--  
  
"Lieutenant!"  
  
Reed looked up to see Hoshi Sato jogging towards him, shattering his thoughts. "Do you mind if I take that?" she asked as she neared him.  
  
"Why?" he said handing it over to her.   
  
"I think I might have read the inscription on the top wrong." She sounded slightly embarrassed, "But I need to make sure."  
  
"Oh? What do you think it says now?"   
  
Hoshi shook her head, "I don't know, but I'm going to go translate it now."  
  
"Well, all right, but do you think I could take some of those spheres? I still have no idea what they really are."  
  
"Oh sure." She held out the box to him, holding up the lid. He grabbed a handful, careful not to crush them.  
  
"All right. Thank you lieutenant." Hoshi said, already walking away.  
  
He watched her go, noticing the way her hair gleamed in the artificial light. It didn't seem possible for hair to shine like that.  
  
Huh.

----  
Malcolm halted outside his quarters, looking down at Porthos as the doors swished open. "You coming in?" he said, the little face looking up at him curiously.  
  
He sighed, kicking the dog lightly in the haunches, causing him to move forward into the room. "Don't want the door to crush you."  
  
Malcolm followed the dog inside, immediately heading over to one of the empty cups on his nightstand, dumping the water balls into it.  
  
"Computer, lights."  
  
Lifting the cup, he peered through the glass.   
  
Yep. Just a bunch of water balls.  
  
He wasn't quite sure what to do next. He'd already run preliminary scans to no avail. Should he break one of them open? But what if they were actually some sort of eggs?  
  
Running a hand through his hair out of annoyance, shaking the cup lightly, his mind raced. Suddenly he had an idea. Dr. Phlox probably had much more able equipment prepared to handle something like this.  
  
He grabbed a few of the spheres, setting the cup back on the nightstand with the rest of them.  
  
"Come on dog!" Malcolm called to Porthos who had made his way into the bathroom, "I'll drop you off at the Captain's."  
  
He waited for the dog to come out, and after a minute of silence, he sighed in frustration. Eager to end the mystery of the water orbs, but mostly impatient, Malcolm went into the bathroom and lifted Porthos, careful to hold him away from his body. He definitely didn't want any dog-hair on his jumpsuit.  
  
Holding back a sneeze, Malcolm left his quarters, forgetting to turn off the lights.  
  
- Unfortunately, the globules nestled in his glass cup didn't fare well in light. In fact, not too long after Malcolm had left, they began to melt.

----

"Please Dr. Phlox! For the last time, I'm fine!" Malcolm snapped, knocking away the Dr.'s hand before he sneezed into his Kleenex.  
  
Phlox rolled his eyes, "It is quite obvious you're not fine at all, Mr. Reed." He turned away from the irritated Lieutenant and lifted his scanner. "It seems that you have developed an allergy towards canines."  
  
No, really? He thought angrily, but simply said, "Do you think we could get back to the water--"  
  
"Yes, I suppose we should." Phlox interrupted. He waved a hand towards the microscope already housing one of the spheres Malcolm had brought, "Actually, I believe it would be best if you left, Lieutenant. I wouldn't want you contaminating the specimens."  
  
He was more then happy to oblige. It was embarrassing enough to have Dr. Phlox take over an assignment the captain had assigned to himself. And now to find out he was allergic to dogs… "Send me your findings, would you?" he asked over his shoulder, blowing his nose in a fresh tissue.  
  
"Of course." Phlox called, poking the orb with some tweezers as the doors swished shut behind him.  
  
Reed wiped a hand across his watering eyes, sneezing again. Damn dog.  
  
Sniffling and sneezing the whole way, Malcolm stepped onto the turbo-lift and told the computer where to go.  
  
"Hey, you're not lookin' so good Loo-tenant."  
  
Malcolm jumped about a foot in the air.   
  
His heart beating wildly, he spun around and saw Commander Tucker leaning against the wall, his arms crossed.  
  
"Do you think you could possibly announce your presence next time?" Malcolm asked nasally, blowing his nose.  
  
Trip raised an eyebrow. "Funny, that's what I thought I had jus' done." He pushed himself up off the wall, "Anyhow, you're lookin' worse for wear Reed. You seen Dr. Phlox yet?"  
  
He rolled his eyes, irritated. "I just came from there."  
  
"Good. I hope he gave you somethin'." Trip said, watching as Malcolm sneezed again.  
  
The turbo-lift suddenly came to a standstill.  
  
"Guess this is my stop." Tucker said, giving him a wide berth as he stepped off the lift. "By the way, tomarraw's movie night… you've picked out the movie right?"  
  
Malcolm blinked, "What?"  
  
Trip sighed, "It was ya' turn to pick out the movie this week, Loo-tenant."  
  
"Oh right." Malcolm recalled agreeing to the request last week. Why _had_ he agreed to it anyway? He dabbed his eyes with the tissue, "I'll do that."  
  
Trip shook his head, saying sarcastically, "Don't get so excited!"  
  
On that note, the turbo-lift doors slid shut. 

----

Malcolm stumbled into his quarters with a sneeze, already pulling off his Starfleet jumpsuit which was covered in dog-hair.   
  
This was exactly what he needed-- a new allergy to be added to the already lengthy list.   
  
Malcolm grumbled to himself sulkily, grabbing the top quilt from his bed and wrapping the suit in it.  
  
He threw the bundle into a corner of the room, wishing that today was laundry day. Oh well. Hopefully the quilt would block off the dog-hair smell until next week.  
  
After taking a shower and washing himself clean, Malcolm slipped on his boxers and collapsed onto the bed.  
  
Malcolm was more tired then he probably should be. He was feeling more and more depressed and sullen lately;   
  
_ loneliness_  
  
and not for any particular reason, either.   
  
He shifted his position on the bed, now laying on his right side.  
  
Already his sniffling and eye-puffiness was decreasing, but he knew that if he ever wanted to be in the same vicinity as the Captain, he would probably have to get some sort of shot from Dr. Phlox.  
  
He sighed.  
  
"Computer. Lights off."  
  
Swallowing and trying to get rid of that scratchy feeling in his throat, Malcolm blindly reached for one of the cups he kept on his nightstand.  
  
Unfortunately, he grabbed the cup that was filled with the melted water spheres.  
  
He downed the whole cup of water without a second thought.  
  
Unusually refreshed, Malcolm quickly drifted off to sleep.  
  
---  
  
And so end-th chapter one...th.  
  
**Preview for next chappie:** _The Enterprise crew is confronted by a pair of very angry aliens and Malcolm begins to have some very strange symptoms..._

--REVIEW!!!


	2. 

Sorry it took so long to update, I got all confussled by the recent changes on FFN. I think everything's cool now though. So. On with the story! :)

_vv_

-Thank you for the reviews!

And to answer your question Rinne, this _is_ set in Season 1. Malcolm, bless his heart, is still terribly formal to everyone. Trip and he aren't really friends yet, and he's just sort of starting to realize Hoshi (as a woman) exists.

_vvv_

"That should keep you sneeze-free Lieutenant." Dr. Phlox said after administering a hypo spray to Malcolm's neck the next morning. "I'd suggest getting one of these once every two weeks."

Reed slid off the bed he'd been sitting on, "Thank you. By the way, did you find anything out about those … things?"

Phlox smiled regretfully, "Not yet Mr. Reed, but I feel very confident."

"Great. Confidence is always good." He ran a hand through his hair, "So, what can I tell the Captain if he asks? We're close to finding out what they are?"

"Yes, that would be fine." Phlox said.

Malcolm walked out of sick bay feeling like a new man. Invigorated, focused and happy. He would've said that this was the hypo spray's fault, but he'd felt like this ever since he woke up.

He entered the bridge and went to his station. Hitting buttons and scanning things, he suddenly felt as if he were being watched.

Looking up, he saw the Captain staring at him.

"Uh, sir?"

Archer shook his head, looking surprised, "Did you get a good sleep last night?"

"Yes sir." Malcolm said, confused.

"You seem… different." The Captain said slowly.

He certainly felt different.

"Malcolm. What's on your face?"

"What, sir?"

Archer tilted his head to the side, "Are you having an allergic reaction to something?"

"No, sir!" Reed assured him. Unless Dr. Phlox's hypo spray hadn't worked… but he was sure it had.

"Then, what are those red splotches on your face?"

Malcolm shot a hand of to his forehead.

My God! Was that…? Could it be…?

He stared down at his reflection in the spotless work station. His forehead… it was covered in… _pimples?_

At his age?? It wasn't possible.

But Malcolm wasn't one to deny the facts.

It was staring him right in the face.

"Lieutenant, do you need to see Dr. Phlox?" Archer asked, breaking his thoughts.

He blinked. Slowly looking away from his reflection. "Uh… n-no. No sir."

The Captain looked doubtful.

"Sir, it's nothing." Reed said to him almost pleadingly.

Archer sat back in his chair, considering something. After a moment, "Still, I'd feel better if you went to see the Doctor."

Reed closed his eyes briefly.

Opening them, but staring down at his hands, he said, "Sir. It's only… acne."

The bridge was silent, and Reed could practically feel everyone staring at him. After a moment, Malcolm looked up. His Captain _was _staring at him, and it looked as if he was trying not to grin.

"You're sure?" Archer finally asked.

"Yes." he answered bitterly.

The Captain turned away, "All right then. Back to work."

Malcolm had a feeling that the last statement wasn't made just for him.

_vvv_

A few hours later, when Reed's embarrassment had finally dwindled a bit, Hoshi broke the silence on the bridge when she said, "Captain, we're receiving a transmission. Audio only."

"From who?" Archer demanded, standing up from his chair.

"Well sir. It seems to be coming from the planet." She said, surprised.

"The planet that's supposed to have no sentient life?" Archer asked.

"Um. Yes sir."

Archer smiled ruefully. "All right. Patch it through." He cleared his throat, "This is Captain Jonathon Archer from the starship _Enterprise_. Who might I be speaking to?"

There was a small pause before, "Uh… this is Neroxi from uh-- the star, starship _Beamer._" A deep voice answered, sounding flustered.

"All right." Archer said, "Anything I can help you with?"

"Well -Yes. Are you the people who destroyed our ship?" the voice asked, no longer sounding flustered, just angry.

Archer raised an eyebrow, "Your ship…? Oh."

"I'll take that as a yes." Neroxi said irritably.

"We thought the ship had been abandoned," Archer said regretfully, "When we scanned the planet, there were no signs of any sentient beings."

"My companion and I were in our submarine. Very deep. Perhaps your scans just didn't reach us."

"That seems very likely." The Captain said. "I'm sorry for any inconvenience we've caused you. If you want, we will fix your ship for you."

Another pause. "Yes, that is a good idea."

"Okay, some of my crew will come down as soon-."

Hoshi called from her station, "They cut the connection."

Archer sighed. "All right. Malcolm, if you're feeling up to it, you will escort Trip and a security team down to the surface."

Reed frowned deeply when he'd said 'feeling up to it', but he nearly jumped up and down for a chance to prove himself.

_vvv_

"I dunno' man. Maybe ya' should try washin' your face before bed?" Trip suggested as they landed the ship.

Malcolm ground his teeth, deciding to let it slide. "Perhaps."

The door swished open, and sunlight streamed into the ship.

Grabbing his phase pistol from it's holster and holding it out in front of him, he led the rest of the small crew out of the ship.

"Faster humans!" Malcolm heard a familiar deep voice call out as soon as he stepped out onto the planet.

"I'm comin'!" Trip yelled back to Neroxi, pushing past the Lieutenant .

Trip and Neroxi exchanged words quickly, before the Commander went to work on the door.

Still feeling ill at ease, Malcolm continued to hold his pistol.

Despite being one of the most diversity accepting people in the world, nothing about Neroxi made Reed trust him. He was a green-skinned creature, with two tiny eyeballs that stuck out like a frog's, and one huge mouth. His pointy ears stuck out to the side, as did the large spikes protruding out from his back and skull.

The eyes swiveled his way. "What are you staring at?" Neroxi demanded.

"I was-- Well, didn't you say you were traveling with a companion?" Reed asked, slightly disconcerted.

Neroxi still watched him. "He is swimming right now. The water does our skin good."

"Oh, I see." Reed put his pistol away, hoping this small gesture of peace would make Neroxi finally look away.

It worked. The green alien set his sights on Trip. "Are you almost done, human?"

The Commander grunted, "Gimme' another ten minutes."

True to his word, ten minutes later, Trip had managed to cover the hole.

"There. You're all set." He said, putting his tools away as he stood up straight.

Neroxi lumbered over and inspected the door. He nodded. "Good. We can leave now."

Then, as if on cue, there was a loud SPLASH.

Spinning around, Malcolm pulled out his phaser, prepared to shoot the offending noise; only to find a carbon copy of Neroxi staring back at him from the ocean.

"Put your weapon away human!" the copy ordered angrily, walking up onto the grass. This alien was actually slightly smaller then Neroxi, Malcolm noticed as he slipped the phaser back into it's holster once again.

Neroxi turned to his companion, "The ship is prepared to leave any time now, Trogdin."

Trogdin nodded, walking past Reed and placing his large hand on the little pad next to the ship's door. Beeping once, then turning green- the door slid open.

"Let us not waste any more time Neroxi." Trogdin said, sounding bitter as he stepped onto the small ship.

Commander Tucker looked over at Reed and his security team. "I guess we can go now."

Malcolm gave a curt nod, and the others started making there way back to the runabout. But he was still watching the two green aliens suspiciously. They were large aliens… too big for the ship they were getting in. Why would they ride in such a tiny ship? Unless they had no other choice… and they had stolen it…

Reed shook his head. Oh well. There wasn't anything he could do about it now. And he was just being skeptical anyway. Maybe those aliens liked cramped spaces.

"Let's go Lieutenant!" Trip yelled.

Catching up to the others, he was just climbing in when he heard Trogdin yell, "Where is it?!"

Malcolm nervously stepped back onto the grass feeling a sort of dread.

"WHERE IS IT?!"

The British weapons officer waited, suddenly knowing what the aliens were looking for.

"HUMANS!" Trogdin screamed, then poked his head back out of his ship, his eyes falling on Malcolm. "Where is the box?!"

_vvvv_

DUN DUN _DUUUUUN._

_Next time, on Enterprise: Apologies, reactions, and some surprises._

..REVIEW..


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